About Joanne

We don't become who we are in isolation.

For much of my life I've been gathering notes, observing and trying to make sense of people and what shapes us and our lives.

I found myself asking the same kind of question: Why do some people flourish while others, equally capable, seem to lose confidence, shrink themselves or struggle to find their place?

Over time, I started to wonder whether I was looking widely enough.

Our culture is very individual-centric. “If it's to be, it's up to me” and “if you're failing, try harder.” We tend to explain people's fortunes by looking primarily at the individual. We often slip into deficit thinking: what's wrong, what's missing, what's weak? What should they change? How could they try harder, become more confident or be more resilient?

Those questions matter. But I don't think they're the whole story.

I think people make sense in context.

We're shaped by our relationships, our families, our workplaces, the communities we belong to and the countless experiences that have taught us what is safe, expected or possible. We inherit opportunities and constraints. We adapt to the environments we're in. We learn who we need to be in order to belong.

Often what feels like a personal limitation, or worse, a fault, can be an intelligent adaptation to our circumstances. It may be something that once kept us safe, helped us belong or enabled us to achieve.

One of the most hopeful things I've observed is that people aren't nearly as fixed as we imagine. I've watched confidence, creativity and capacity emerge, not because someone finally became a different person, but because the relationships, expectations or environment around them changed.

Understanding those patterns has become the heart of my work.

How I came to this work

My curiosity is personal as well as professional.

Like many people drawn to helping professions, I was trying to understand myself as much as anyone else. Looking back, I can see that my clients have taught me as much as I've ever taught them. Sometimes I've joked that perhaps I should have been paying them.

There's more truth in that than the joke suggests.

Working alongside hundreds of people has challenged my assumptions, expanded my thinking and deepened my understanding of what it means to be human. It has reinforced my belief that coaches don't stand outside the human experience. We all bring our own histories, questions and blind spots. The work is learning to hold them with enough awareness that they deepen, rather than cloud, our capacity to be with others.

For more than twenty years I've worked with thoughtful professionals, leaders and individuals in New Zealand and internationally. My work has been shaped by trauma-informed practice, adult development, leadership psychology and, above all, thousands of conversations with people trying to make sense of their lives and difficult situations.

How I work

I bring experience, evidence-informed frameworks and a deep respect for complexity. My role isn't to tell people who they are, what to do, or how they should live. It's to explore ideas with you and help you notice.

Most people don't need more advice, and especially not advice based on someone else's assumptions about who they are or what they need. I've experienced this myself, and it's reinforced for me how important it is to stay curious, open and aware of the limits of our own perspective.

In my coaching, we explore together the patterns that shape your life, including some that may not yet be fully visible to you. We might look at your relationships and environments, the assumptions you've inherited, the ways you've learned to respond, and the stories that once made sense but may no longer fit.

I'm interested in what becomes possible when we can see ourselves and our circumstances a little more clearly.

If that sounds like the kind of conversation you're looking for, I'd love to hear from you.

A little more about me

And, if you're curious, here's a little more about me outside coaching...

I'm a lifelong observer of people and the world around me. I read and learn constantly, and I love long, meandering conversations with dear colleagues. I write Fieldnotes on Substack, where I explore some of the questions and ideas that keep me curious.

I'm endlessly interested in relationships, human development and the environments that help people flourish. I'm also an HSP myself, so this isn't simply a professional interest for me.

Outside all of that, I love animals, plants, nature and calm, expansive spaces. I'm often told that people find me calming and feel safe with me. I suspect that's part of both who I am and how I've learned to be with people, and I'm very glad when it gives my clients a little more space to breathe, think and find their own way forward.

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Qualifications & Credentials

Professional Certified Coach (International Coaching Federation)
Certified Trauma-Informed Coach (Moving the Human Spirit)
HSP Certified Coach - The Highly Sensitive Person
Certified Enneagram Practitioner (The Narrative Enneagram)
Qualified Action Inquiry & Global Leadership Profile Coach (Global Leadership Associates)
Certified Vertical Mindset Indicator Coach (Adeption)
Results Associate Certified Coach (NeuroLeadership Group)
Conversations at the Growing Edge (Growth Edge Coaching)
Mindfulness and Somatic Coaching Trained (Mindfulness Coaching)
Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Certified Practitioner - CPP Asia Pacific
Love + Work Leader - Marcus Buckingham
Certified i4 Practitioner - About My Brain